


Across The Delta

by roulesamsa



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Real World, F/F, Gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-24 00:41:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13799745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roulesamsa/pseuds/roulesamsa
Summary: Once a renowned sniper for the Ukranian military, Yuliya Bousaid is a shell of her former self, consumed by the guilt of her missing brother, left behind after she escaped from a mysterious prison in the forests of Donbass. With the help of a rising politician, Yuliya begins to search for her brother. However, underneath the kidnapping lies something sinister...





	Across The Delta

The weather is dark wet and cold in Kiev, the stark white buildings tinting a bluish grey, and the streets completely empty, with only one or two cars passing through. It's the perfect weather for staying inside for most of the day.

At least, that’s how Yuliya had rationalized staying in the house for the entire day to herself. 

What she could do outside, if sheets of cold rain slammed the earth every hour, and it dipped barely above 0 degrees celsius? 

The truth was, Yuliya hadn’t left the house since last week, when she had the motivation of English lessons and her bi-weekly therapist meeting to draw her out. Bdzi, her ribombee, didn’t exactly need walks, she kind of just floated around her apartment, or hid in her cabinets to scare her owner while she shifted through them. Raffu, her rufflet, only needed occasional walks, while Yuliya wore a falconry glove. Mostly, he lived in her vacant bedroom, too depressed to make much of a fuss, just looking out the window. So, with all these factors adding up, she didn’t need to go out much without a definite reason. 

It didn’t help that going outdoors frequently meant that Yuliya would either have a nervous breakdown or begin to hallucinate violently, sometimes with no way of knowing what was true or not. Everything on the streets, children, food, toys, clothes, even the temperature could remind her of her service in Donbass, what she saw out towards the east. She’d gotten better over the months, towards the beginning she had no choice but to vomit or have a violent panic attack. Now, she’d mostly internalize it, shut it all out. Ultimately, her mind decided that it was best she had no contact with anyone except when absolutely necessary. It was shockingly easy to lock everyone out, because she had no one left in Ukraine to look out for her, and encourage her to go outdoors more than weekly. All her military buddies either hate her or died, her parents left Ukraine, and her brother...

Yuliya’s thoughts were interrupted by Bdzi swirling around her head with a buzz, humming happily under her breath. The woman laughed and reached a hand up to pet the bee pokemon, who smiled at her and hummed louder. She spun around Yuliya's head eagerly.

“C’mon.” Yuliya said. “Let’s watch some TV together, shall we?” Bdzi chirped loudly, placing herself on Yuliya’s shoulder. The girl chuckled again, rubbing the insect’s head again.

Yuliya walked from the window to her white couch, covered in a dark brown comforter and a red woolen blanket over it. The couch was the only place that she could really sleep on without vivid nightmares of shelled houses and dead, bloody comrades that would prevent her from sleeping longer than 20 minutes at the most. Either that, or the bathtub, which both barely fit her, and gave her a crick in her neck so bad it aches for several days. It was her own way of torturing herself, making her sleep somewhere either too cramped for her or too stiff and uncomfortable. It's her way of repaying for her guilt. She switched on the television propped on her wall, which turned to a news channel with a blonde female anchor reading the news.

“Tomorrow, former Armed Forces sniper Yulia Darya Bousaid will be awarded the Hero of Ukraine award in the Verkhovna Rada.” The anchor read, and a picture of a much happier Yuliya appeared on screen. She was wearing a navy blue ceremonial uniform with a blue beret on her head, partially covering much shorter dark hair compared to her longer, uncontrollable mess of a hairstyle now, round dark eyes curved in a smile, and rosy cheeks as she grinned at the camera. Her large, triangular nose stood out on her face, the butt of many well meaning military jokes and a lot more malicious ones in Russia, usually combined with ones about her dark skin. 

“Bousaid was captured by militants in a small town outside of Alchevsk, in Donbass, in a mortar attack that killed 3 other soldiers. Yuliya was the only one of the two soldiers captured to escape.” The anchor continued, and the woman felt a sense of dread fall over her, and she switched the TV to another channel before her brother’s name could be read off. He had been the other captured soldier, the government telling her family it was a wasteful search. The next channel over was the annual French Pokemon League Competition in Paris, between the champion and some other challenger. She wasn’t paying attention.

All she could think about was the award. How could she forget? She vaguely remembers some military officer coming to her door after she’d just moved into her apartment and announcing that she’d be presented it in about a month. Has it been a month since then? It felt like forever ago that it’d happened. Time works for her in funny ways. Sometimes, everything feels so close together that she can’t believe it’s been months, sometimes everything feels so distant. Mostly distant. 

Still, she was going to be a hero! Of Ukraine! It seemed so stupid to her. She was no hero, couldn’t even save three of her comrades or her own ****ing brother! Who thought she was worthy enough to be a hero, hm? She was not a hero. Not a hero. Not a hero.

“Not a hero.” 

No. It can't be...

"You're not a hero."

Yuliya looked up, and whipped her head around to face Nazar, her old commander, his hollow pale face glaring at her. His dark hair was up to his neck, unkempt and matted. He was in a dingy white t-shirt and jeans, and was pointing a dark pistol straight at her head. His arms are thin, like he's been starving himself. A shell of the muscular man she knew in Donbass. She feels her stomach drop painfully and her throat constrict. 

“You didn’t think I’d come back, did you?”

Yuliya nods weakly, violently shaking. She can’t think, only watch as he takes the safety off of his pistol with a click. Yuliya swallows thickly, barely managing to keep her bile down.

“I always do, Raven.” He grins wildly, like an animal. Yuliya flinches at the use of her military nickname, once used affectionately, but now... “Besides, why wouldn't I come for the girl who betrayed me, who's now being held up as some sort of hero?”

She prays under her breath, something to protect her, please. It's all she can do, she can't bring herself to harm another human being, not even Nazar…

“I was your captain, Raven.” Nazar continues. “And yet you reported me to the ****ing Commander for ‘un-soldierly behavior’, and now what am I? A miserable wreck! I will never be able to hold a job, or do anything for that matter. And it’s all your fault, little miss Hero of Ukraine!”

“Y-You…” Yuliya manages weakly, before she’s cut off.

“‘I-I’ what? What Raven? Do tell me what you want to say to me!” Nazar mocks her. “ Oh, that’s right… You can’t say anything, because you’re responsible for this! You failed me, you failed Fedir, Borys, Ivan, your own brother, and you definitely failed Ukraine! Prepare to die, traitor!”

She hears the click of the gun, and winces, covering her head with her scarred arms and prepares for her death, then….

Nothing.

Nothing.

Yuliya opens her eyes and looks around. No one’s there. She hallucinated him, again. The image od Nazar haunted her in her lowest moments, reminding her that she was responsible for firing him. Responsible for his words. His venom towards her. All her fault. All her fault. Everything was her fault. Her head feels woozy, and her eyes can barely stay open. Bdzi circles around her nervously, holding her hands, visibly worried for her very scared trainer. 

“I’m fine, Bdzi,” Yuliya whispers. “Yuliya just got scared. That’s all.”

She feels bad for Bdzi.

She’d grown up with Yuliya, a gift from her pokemon obsessed father, and Yuliya had cared for her despite her initial disinterest in pokemon. When Yuliya enlisted and got deployed to Donbass, Bdzi went with her, and found good company in the military. Pokemon battling was a past time amongst bored personnel, wanting something positive to draw their attention away from the firefights and gloom. Yuliya liked to think that she was somewhat decent at it, but not as good as Nazar was, who told her he was going to be a trainer before duty called him to the military. Bdzi spent 2 months alone in a military base because her owner went missing, god knows what she would’ve felt. Yuliya remembers reading something that said pokemon feel similar things to humans. Did Bdzi think she died back there? Did she feel grief? Whatever it was, Bdzi finally evolved when Yuliya returned, in a spontaneous act of what could be considered relief. 

Yuliya patted Bdzi on the head softly, and the little bug appears to smile. She lies down on the couch, pulling the covers over her head. She feels exhaustion creep up on her, turning her mind to fuzz. Her eyelids ache with the effort of holding themselves up. 

Nothing happened at all today, and yet she’s tired. It would've made sense if today was the day she was awarded, but it isn’t. She’s tired over nothing. 

She’s living a nothing life. 

Yuliya feels tears run down her face, and she quivers softly as she cries at her pathetic existence. 

Bdzi looks over the trembling form of her owner. She doesn’t quite understand what’s happening to her, why she’s sad all of a sudden, but she knows that she has to comfort her owner. The insect flies over to Yuliya’s form, and rubs her head with one of her small hands. 

Yuliya’s face visibly calms, and she opens her eyes and looks up at Bdzi.

“Thank you.” Yuliya whispers. "Thank you for staying with me."

She’s asleep in minutes.


End file.
